English Refresher · CEFR C1 · Unit 3

The Future of Work

Talk about automation, AI and changing careers — and learn to predict the future with exactly the right degree of certainty. Practice, check your answers instantly, and study the flashcards.

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Speaking

Work & the Future

What to do: Work in pairs or small groups. Discuss the questions and try to use the prediction phrases below. There is no score — speak, listen, and grade how sure you are.

Audio 1Listen to an example

Listen to someone predict where their own job is heading — notice the graded modals — then forecast your own.

Talk about it

What does a "typical" job look like today compared with 20 years ago? What's driving the change?
Which job in your country might barely exist in 10 years — and how sure are you?
Are AI and automation more likely to help or harm workers? Make the case both ways.

Predict with graded certainty using these:
It's likely / unlikely that…… may well…There's a chance / risk that…could / might…I wouldn't be surprised if…It remains to be seen whether…

Featured Reading

Is Your Job Future-Proof?

Read the full interactive essay and do the comprehension quiz before you debate.

Read it →

Reading

Changed, Not Erased

What to do: Read this short extract from the unit essay. Then answer the questions and tap Check Answers. (Read the full article using the link above!)

The scariest headlines promise that machines will soon take half our jobs. The calmer truth is that automation tends to change jobs far more than it eliminates them: it swallows the routine tasks and leaves the human ones behind.

That's why the abilities hardest to automate — judgment, persuasion, empathy, creativity, the so-called soft skills — are becoming more valuable, not less. The smartest response isn't panic; it's to keep learning, and to future-proof your career by adapting faster than the machines.

1. Automation tends to change jobs more than it ______ them.

2. Judgment, empathy and creativity are often called ______ skills.

3. What reassurance does the writer offer?

no job will ever change at all automation reshapes more jobs than it destroys outright technology always reduces total employment

Listening

Will AI Take Our Jobs?

What to do: Listen two times. Then complete the sentences and answer the questions. Notice how the speakers grade their predictions.

Audio 2Leah and Marco discuss AI and jobs

Leah: I keep reading that half of all jobs will be gone in twenty years. Do you actually believe that?

Marco: Not really. It's likely that a lot of tasks get automated, but that's not the same as the whole job disappearing.

Leah: Fair. So you think we'll be fine?

Marco: I wouldn't go that far. There's a real risk that people who can't reskill get left behind. The jobs won't vanish — they'll change, and not everyone can keep up.

Leah: So the answer is more training, basically.

Marco: Pretty much. Whether governments fund it fast enough, though, remains to be seen.

Leah: That I'm less optimistic about.

1. Marco thinks it's likely that many ______ get automated, not whole jobs.

2. There's a real ______ that people who can't reskill get left behind.

3. Whether governments fund training fast enough ______ to be seen.

4. How would you describe Marco's overall view?

certain that all jobs will vanish measured — jobs will change, not simply vanish sure that nothing will change at all

5. What is Leah least optimistic about?

whether AI will improve whether jobs will change whether governments will fund retraining in time

Vocabulary

The Right Word

What to do: Complete each sentence with a term from the unit. Spelling counts. Tap Check Answers when you're done.

1. Short-term, flexible jobs arranged through apps make up the ______ ______ (two words).

2. Learning new skills to move into a different role is ______.

3. Machines taking over tasks once done by people is ______.

4. Doing the bare minimum at work and nothing extra is known as ______ ______ (two words).

5. A working life built from several part-time or freelance roles is a ______ ______ (two words).

Prediction

Likely or Unlikely to be Automated?

What to do: Which tasks are likely to be automated soon, and which are unlikely? Tap a card to move it (first box, then second box, then back), then tap Check Answers.

Likely to be automated soon

Unlikely to be automated soon

Structure

Build the Sentence

What to do: Tap the chunks in the correct order to build an advanced sentence (a graded prediction and a cleft). Tap a chunk in your answer to send it back. Then tap Check Answers.

1. A graded prediction:

2. A cleft sentence (for emphasis):

Writing

A Careful Forecast

What to do: Write about 250 words on one prompt below. Make a clear prediction — but grade your certainty and admit what's uncertain. There is no automatic score; use the checklist.

Choose a prompt

"Should we fear automation or embrace it?"
"How I imagine the workplace in 2040."
"Why soft skills will define future careers."

Model opening: "Predicting the future of work is a fool's errand, and yet we can't quite resist it. My own guess is cautious: automation is likely to reshape far more jobs than it eliminates outright. The roles most exposed are the predictable, repetitive ones; what machines still struggle with — judgment, persuasion, care — is precisely what we'll be paid for. Whether we reskill fast enough, however, remains to be seen."

0 words

Did you include…

a clear prediction (your real forecast)
two graded modals (is likely to, may well, could…)
one acknowledgment of uncertainty (it remains to be seen…)
five unit vocabulary items (automation, reskilling, soft skills…)
a conclusion that doesn't overstate your case

Vocabulary

Flashcards

What to do: Tap a card to reveal the meaning and an example. These are the key terms for this unit and the reading.

automationnountap to reveal

machines doing tasks once done by people"Automation has transformed factories."

job displacementnountap to reveal

workers losing jobs because tasks are taken over by machines"Automation can cause job displacement."

the gig economynountap to reveal

short-term, flexible work arranged through apps"Drivers and couriers fuel the gig economy."

a portfolio careernountap to reveal

a working life built from several roles at once"She has a portfolio career: design, teaching, writing."

reskillingnountap to reveal

learning new skills to move into a different role"Reskilling is the best protection against change."

hybrid workingnountap to reveal

splitting work between home and the office"Most of the team prefers hybrid working."

quiet quittingnountap to reveal

doing only the minimum your job requires"Burnout often leads to quiet quitting."

the knowledge economynountap to reveal

an economy based on ideas and information, not goods"Education matters most in the knowledge economy."

soft skillsnountap to reveal

people skills: communication, teamwork, empathy"Soft skills are hard to automate."

to future-proofverbtap to reveal

to protect something against future change"Keep learning to future-proof your career."

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